TMG, LTO join forces to stop car theft in Metro

The Traffic Management Group (TMG) is set to ask assistance from the Land Transportation Office (LTO) to help stop the sale of stolen vehicles.

TMG director Chief Superintendent Errol Pan said there were several cases in which stolen vehicles were given documents from the LTO, allowing car theft syndicates to sell “hot cars” to unsuspecting victims.

According to Pan, one of the classic examples was the case of Christine Bautista, a daughter of former senator Ramon Revilla, whose 2004 Toyota Corolla Altis  (XPT-148) was stolen while parked in San Juan City last May 20, prompting her to immediately report the incident to the TMG.

Last July 5, Rendon Jabla went to the TMG and tried to secure a motor vehicle clearance certificate from the TMG, which informed him that the vehicle was in their list of hot cars.

According to Jabla, he bought the vehicle from a certain Angelito Lim, who presented an official receipt (OR) and certificate of receipt (CR) and a deed of sale, supposedly signed by Bautista.

But Bautista said her signature was forged on the deed of sale. She said she has been paying the monthly mortgage of the vehicle.

“I wonder why the LTO processed the transfer of ownership of my vehicle when the signature has obviously been forged,” she said.

Aside from Bautista’s case, Pan said the TMG is also investigating a number of similar cases.

Pan said the TMG has recently uncovered another modus operandi of car theft syndicates in which a vehicle is registered to LTO twice, with the same engine and chassis numbers but two different owners.

“We will try to come up with recommendations to be able to effectively stop the modus operandi” of carjacking syndicates, he said.

The TMG’s intensified campaign against car theft led to the arrest of 14 persons in various raids.

Pan said the suspects, including members of the Lagman carjacking group, were arrested in different raids in Pampanga, Pasig City, and Cavite.

Pan said six of the suspects were arrested while in the act of dismantling a blue Mitsubishi Adventure and loading its body parts into an L-300 van with license plate UAS-291 in Barangay Cupang, Arayat, Pampanga.

He said the four others were nabbed shortly after they sold a 2006 Mitsubishi Adventure with fake registration papers during an entrapment in Rosario, Cavite.